


The Cost of Victory

by FinalSwanSong



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 00:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FinalSwanSong/pseuds/FinalSwanSong
Summary: The Fall of Beacon with a difference.He had one job.





	

Waiting in that silent elevator was one of the most awkward and difficult tasks Jaune had ever attempted in his entire life, and he had attempted many stupid and awkward things in his life, not to mention dangerous and difficult, namely joining a top combat school with no training or experience. For the first time ever, Ozpin had allowed his calm demeanour to slip away and Jaune eyed him worriedly as the man’s leg seemed to bounce up and down while waiting for the painfully slow elevator to descend. Pyrrha was no better, incessantly wringing her hands before her as they slowly began to turn red. Together the two of them were going to give Jaune a second hand panic attack.

Though it was understandable that people would be worried while the entire city of Vale was under siege by Grimm and Beacon itself was being threatened by Grimm, White Fang, turned Atlesian Knights and the giant dragon that seemed to be intent on circling both the combat school and the lone rogue airship flying over Vale, Jaune was a bit shocked that Ozpin appeared to be so rattled. The unshakable man had lost his mug somewhere and was holding his staff like a sword, no longer using it to help him stand. And Pyrrha Nikos the four time Mistral tournament winner who had likely seen more fights in her training than Jaune was going to see in his entire lifetime, she was always calm and collected, never showing fear or indecision, especially on the battlefield. But now they were anxiously awaiting whatever destination Ozpin had set the elevator to, bated breathing being the only sound echoing in the claustrophobic chamber.

Jaune nervously glanced across to Pyrrha, noting her thousand-yard stare and tense mouth, he had never seen her so worried since the whole debacle with Cardin months ago. Jaune found himself wishing to be back in those simple times, when everything was happy. Before all of this. The faintest whizzing of the lowering elevator continued as he clenched and unclenched his hands around Crocea Mors, the point of the sword wavering in the air as his arms shook slightly.

Jaune felt the elevator slow through his legs, Pyrrha and Ozpin preparing to run in front of him, evidently whatever needed to be done needed to happen now. Whatever that may entail. The doors opened with barely a noise and Jaune lagged behind slightly as both Ozpin and Pyrrha began running the instant the doors were open. He ran after them as fast as he could, only allowing himself to take note of his surroundings while sprinting after the others.

They had entered a long, dark room. It was sweeping, nothing stretching all the up to the ceiling high above them and fading into darkness. Everything had a sickly green tinge as green flames that lined the walls on either side flickered, casting long shadows across the tiles that they sprinted on. The walls were set apart with long horizontal pieces of metal holding the mystical fire, reflected in the shining floor.

Curiosity overcame the tension coursing through his body and he opened his mouth to ask the question on his mind while all three of them sprinted down the lengthy hall, disregarding the clanking of his and Pyrrha’s armour. “What is all this?”

Ozpin ignored him, focusing on the task at hand while simultaneously thinking dozens of steps ahead like any good chess master. Jaune only spared him a glance before looking to Pyrrha for answers. “It’s like a-”

The ground shook, dislodging Pyrrha from making her response and leading both her and Ozpin to run even faster. Jaune tried to keep pace with them, feeling his legs burn at the exertion of running for an extended period of time in armour. What was he thinking when he had cheated his way into Beacon? He could barely run half as far as the other students in his year, let alone fight half as well.

Much like he was prone to do when stressed or reminiscing, Jaune allowed his mouth to roam on autopilot. “It’s like a crypt.” His words echoed out into the empty space, travelling ahead and behind them. “But why would the school need a crypt?”

He saw Pyrrha turn her head away from him, was that fear or shame that he saw flicker over her face? He only momentarily saw the emotions dancing over her face, as his gaze and attention was captured by the set of large metal capsules set against the wall. He stopped running, allowing his momentum to carry him forward a few more steps before looking at the dark grey chambers, watching on in shock as Ozpin ran to some kind of terminal to begin punching in something hastily. Pyrrha slowed to look back at him, but didn’t stop running, still moving to the further chamber.

Only now could Jaune see that the other chamber was occupied, a young woman lying with her eyes closed peacefully despite the nasty scarring across her face. Marks and lines looking like someone had burnt them on using a brand. She was bandaged heavily and had all sorts of tubing and wires probing into her.

 _'To keep her alive'_ , Jaune realised, wincing at the large tube filled with an opaque green fluid running into the inside of her arm and up into one of her arteries. “What is…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the question, instead settling for another. “She-”

“Pyrrha,” Ozpin interrupted, looking over towards them as he continued to type into the green console. “Get to the pod!”  He had set his cane to the side to lean onto the machine the console was set into, gesturing to the empty pod with one hand.

Jaune could see the conflict behind his partner’s eyes while she struggled with the decision to abandon him to his confusion or not. She opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind and only let out a stressed sigh. Pyrrha ran over to the empty pod, leaving Jaune alone in the green hallway. Jaune made to follow her as she unslung her sword and shield from her back and placed them on the ground before the empty pod. She was going to get into it.

The headmaster caught his movement somehow, turning slightly so that Jaune could better hear his words. “Mister Arc, stand guard there, let no one pass. This cannot fail.”

Jaune glanced at Pyrrha, who was seemingly talking herself into getting into the opened chamber, he wanted to be there to help, to try and calm her down like she had for him so many times. But his interference would only make things worse, resolving to not drop his guard no matter what may happen, Jaune turned back towards the elevator, holding his shield out towards the doors.

“I will.” He couldn’t afford to turn back now.

“What do we do now?”

Jaune almost failed in his role the second he heard the pain and confusion in Pyrrha’s voice, at the inner conflict tearing her apart. He wanted nothing more than to rush to her side, to console her and ask what was wrong. But he couldn’t.

“We can only stand guard. You, Miss Nikos…” Ozpin paused, ostensibly to allow Pyrrha to gather herself before continuing. “Have a choice to make.”

Jaune couldn’t do anything for Pyrrha anymore. Gulping down his worry and fear, Jaune tightened his hands around his weapons, staring at the elevator and not daring break line of sight on it. The noises of Pyrrha’s armour moving reached Jaune’s ears but not his brain. For Jaune only had mind for the sound of the dreaded pod closing with Pyrrha locked inside. He couldn’t turn, he gave his word.

“Are you ready?” Ozpin’s usually calm voice carried easily though the room. “I need to hear you say it.”

The muffled sound of Pyrrha’s answer only just reached Jaune, standing as far back as he was, distorted by the glass and the distance. But the message was clear.

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Miss Nikos.”

The ground shook and Jaune tried to steady himself as the floor violently shifted from side to side. He planted his sword into the ground to stabilise himself, holding onto it with a firm grip to halt the swaying motion threatening to remove him from his feet. Ozpin was trying to type something into the console while the earthquake continued, only stumbling once before righting himself and pressing on. The shaking stopped and Jaune looked back up from his sword cracking into the ground to watch the elevator doors once more. Still closed and hallway empty.

There was a whirr as some kind of machinery moved behind him, presumably one of the pods sliding into position for whatever procedure was going to happen. Something behind him began to emit a high pitch noise as the machine came to life, Jaune did his best to ignore it as it split his skull. And then Pyrrha began screaming in agony. Jaune felt the visceral part of him need to turn to see if he could help Pyrrha, to stop the pain. But she clearly knew that something bad was going to happen and Jaune gave Ozpin his word that he would not leave his post.

“I’m so sorry.”

Jaune closed his eyes to Pyrrha’s screaming, trying to drown it out by focusing on the loud hissing of the machine and the low whistling coming from the elevator.

Jaune’s eyes bolted open, seeing a woman in a red dress standing there with a smirk on her face and a black bow in her hands. Jaune could only just see the obsidian arrow as it carved through the air, the faintest green flickers from the fire reflected on the dark sheen of the arrow catching his eye as the arrow sailed towards its target. Towards the machine. He made to open his mouth but the warning was caught in his throat, his body already moving instinctively to protect the comatose woman in the pod. His right arm caught on something and he gave the barest of glances towards his sword still buried in the ground, ignoring it completely and releasing the sword, Jaune stepped away from it and leapt into the course of the darting arrow. Taking the arrow on his shield.

And then the arrow shattered.

Breathing the barest sighs of relief, Jaune made to call out a warning to Ozpin when one of the shards caught his eye. It was glowing orange. As were all the others. The shards were still moving, travelling around him from where the arrow had shattered on his shield. Jaune’s eyes unwillingly followed one of the pieces flying around to his left, thankfully travelling slightly slower than the arrow had been, perhaps this power was difficult to control.

The fraud observed the obsidian skirt around him, avoiding any further contact with him. His body began to follow his neck as he half turned about to his left, now facing back towards the machine. All of the glowing shards were gathering together behind him, reforming into the arrow that had destroyed itself on his shield. The arrow had almost completely renewed itself. The travel from his shield to the other side taking less than a few seconds.

The arrow pieced itself back together again, losing the orange glow and turning jet black again. Jaune’s eyes widened as he saw it continue to move towards the woman in the pod, Pyrrha’s eyes widening as she noticed the woman and the arrow, Ozpin beginning to turn towards him. But they would be too late.

Reaching over with his right hand, Jaune moved as fast as he could, empty hand opening out towards the arrow as the arrow began to regain speed. Jaune’s fingers enclosed around the very end of the arrow, grabbing at the shaft with the end of his fingertips. For just a second Jaune allowed himself to believe that he had managed to catch it. Catch an arrow mid-flight.

Then the shaft slipped from his fingers, the slippery material of the arrow escaping from his grasp and sailing away again. But he had managed to alter its trajectory, the arrow sailing wide of its target lying still in the pod and soared directly into the second console by the pod. Sparks flew from where the arrow struck the terminal, the machine letting out warning beeping noises, the alarm signalling as both of the pod doors opened upwards, allowing Pyrrha to slump out of her pod, unable to stand from the pain. The green flames of the hall began to flicker, some of them dying out while others sputtered in their place. Jaune saw Ozpin’s eyes open wide and his mouth fall open in shock.

And then all there was in the world was the searing pain in his back.

Jaune fell to the ground, hearing Pyrrha screaming his name in anguish. Someone else was screaming, it might have been him but at that point he couldn’t find it in himself to stop. He rolled his head to try and see her through the haze of pain, but all he could see were two shadowy figures moving away from the machine, both of them towards him. They both reached for their weapons and one of them stumbled towards him. The other seemed to want to move towards him but at the last second dashed over to the side in the blink of an eye. A green light flared up from the figure and Jaune closed his eyes, opening them to see Ozpin standing before the remaining occupied pod with fury written across his face. The arrow that had been shot at the woman Ozpin was protecting feebly tried to bend around his glowing shield to reach its target, but Ozpin had witnessed that trick used on Jaune and swept his staff through the air, tossing aside all the shards with one swift motion. All the pieces of the arrow flew into the wall to his left and fell to the ground.

Jaune could feel his aura flaring as it tried to repair the damage done to his back, and he felt the pain slightly alleviate. But the main burning pain continued to pour from a point in his back, stemming from the arrowhead still buried in his back through his armour and his aura. Only the combination of the two managing to save his life. Jaune rolled onto his side to look at his attacker, letting his shield slip from his grip to clatter onto the ground in front of him. Clenching his teeth together as hard as he could to distract himself from the hot feeling saturating his entire back.

The woman is standing there, with raven black hair reaching down to her shoulders and amber eyes glowing in unrestrained fury. She scowled at him, eyes promising terrible vengeance on him. Her bow raised back in her hands to level at Jaune, arrow forming in her hand on the bowstring. She drew and fired in a single fluid motion, swiftly sending the arrow towards Jaune. He could hear Pyrrha shout his name and there was a sudden breeze above him as Ozpin leapt across the distance in an instant, striking the arrow with his cane, knocking it to the ground where it disintegrated upon impact.

Jaune winced, realising what to do. He rolled over onto his back, letting out a scream of pain as the arrow shaft resisted the movement and burrowed further into his back before finally giving in and snapping. The arrow shaft fell to the tiled floor where it began to dissolve while the arrow head remained buried inside his back between his shoulder blades. Jaune’s aura flared white and he felt the pain recede somewhat as the arrow finally began to dissolve.

Bringing himself back to the world around him, Jaune saw Pyrrha try to approach him only for red hot flames to wash over the tiles between them, pushing Pyrrha back. Their attacker raised her bow again, this time firing another arrow at Amber. Once again Ozpin managed to reach the destination before the arrow, crumbling it with a swift green blast, but it was a race that he would not be able to keep up. Pyrrha ran towards him, but something occurred during the transferral that caused her to have splitting headaches and perpetual pain and aching. She pushed through it to try to reach her partner to save him, but an arrow struck the ground before her, only giving her enough time to use her semblance to bring one of the doors of the pods between herself and the arrow before it exploded.

The explosion sent both Pyrrha and her makeshift shield flying back towards the machine, Pyrrha managed to use her Polarity to stop her motion by affecting her armour, but with all the distractions and pain she failed to stop the pod door from slamming into her and driving her into the wall. Cinder cruelly smirked, happy to see her enemy’s final desperate plan fail before her. She would kill the girl who would try to become a god, she would kill the boy who dared interfere with her plans and she would kill Ozpin as he failed and his precious school fell around him.

Jaune heard the clacking of high heels through his fog of worry for Pyrrha, rolling himself over to face the woman. Her bow had separated into two separate swords and she walked to stand over him, twisting one of the swords in her hand to aim downwards at his chest. Jaune’s eyes widened in fear and he tried to reach for his shield, only for his arm to be stepped on and crushed into the ground by the murderer.

“Stay back!”

Cinder looked up at Ozpin as a scowl readorned her face, she fired a fireball at him with her other arm, the old headmaster deflecting it with his green shield flaring up around him. He flew forward and slammed his cane into Cinder’s two swords, forcing her back from Jaune’s body. Lips curling, she snarled at him, tired of the man getting in her way. Cinder swung her two swords forward, forcing Ozpin back a step and leapt upwards, wreathing her swords in flames to strike at him. Ozpin briefly glanced at Jaune’s body as he jumped upwards, meeting the attack in mid-air and knocking Cinder away from his student several steps, not letting up and rushing forward to lock his cane with her two swords, forcing her to focus entirely on their fight.

Jaune rolled over to face the machine, seeing Pyrrha go to grab the injured woman in the pod. As Pyrrha pulled her from the pod, one of the tubes travelling up into her veins yanked itself out on Pyrrha’s sword, spraying a sickly green fluid across the tiles. The comatose woman’s eyes opened for a second, enough for Jaune to see the pain and fear etched into them before they shut tight again. Pyrrha stumbled back clutching her head with both hands, clearly being affected by the woman in the pod.

“Leave Amber and get out of here!” Ozpin shouted to her from his position of slowly pushing Cinder back towards the elevator. “Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! The tower cannot fall!”

Pyrrha shook her head clear and began to run towards Jaune, despite the fierce fight occurring several metres away. She pulled her shield to her out from under the chamber’s door and raced forward. Ozpin turned his head momentarily to see what she was doing and Cinder took the opportunity to slash upwards with one sword, hooking under his cane to lift it up and away from his body. She slashed across with her other sword, the blade being deflected by Ozpin’s aura but Jaune could see the slight wince that Ozpin gave as he backed up a few steps, cane back up in a ready position.

“Miss Nikos, leave Jaune! Get as far away as possible, it might stop what’s happening to you!” Ozpin growled as he eyed Cinder, who was smirking at him with her swords up and ready to attack at the first sign of any opportunity.

Pyrrha stepped backwards, realising that her presence was distracting Ozpin from the fight for his life, Jaune’s life, Amber’s life and possibly the lives of every person in Beacon and Vale. Seeing the rationale in the command, Pyrrha took one step to the side, hesitating as she looked at Jaune’s body on the ground.

Ozpin noticed her brief indecision and looked her in the eyes. “I promise to protect Jaune with my life. He will come to no harm while I still stand. But right now, Pyrrha, you’ll only get in the way.”

The girl looked to her leader, noticing the nod that he gave her through the grimace while his aura worked to repair the damage caused by the arrow. She turned away, running to the side and around Cinder to get to the elevator. Pyrrha was glad that Cinder let her go, so that no one could witness the tears freely falling down her cheeks.

The elevator doors closed behind Pyrrha and Cinder stepped towards Jaune and Ozpin, a deep scowl on her face as she neared the two people who had derailed her plans the most. “You may be powerful, Ozpin. But you truly are arrogant if you think you can protect them both!” She shouted as she leapt back, her swords coming up as a bow, three arrows on the string.

All three fired at once, two arcing towards Amber while the third headed directly for Jaune. Ozpin only hesitated for a second, looking between Amber and Jaune. Jaune closed his eyes as Ozpin turned away from him and towards Amber. They all clearly knew who the more important person was. There was a loud cracking noise and Jaune opened his eyes when no more pain came.

Ozpin was standing over him, clutching an arrow in his hands.

Jaune looked over to Amber, dreading to see the poor woman with two arrows in her chest. He almost let out a small laugh in relief when he saw what Ozpin had accomplished. Sometimes he had questioned the man’s claim to the position of headmaster of one of the best combat schools in Remnant, but no longer. Ozpin’s cane was buried into the wall beside Amber’s pod, two arrows laying shattered on the ground beneath it. The cane was creating a green bubble that completely enveloped the maiden, preventing any more attacks on her. The hunter in training looked over to Ozpin’s opponent to see her reaction.

She was smiling.

Realising too late, Ozpin tossed the arrow away from himself, the arrow glowed almost immediately and exploded. In the instant before the arrow exploded, Jaune made eye contact with Ozpin and saw the desire to dodge in every element of his body. But Ozpin’s eyes hardened when they looked upon his student, standing his ground over Jaune to protect him from the explosion. The explosion knocked back all three combatants, Cinder easily letting it push her back to skid on the floor in her heels, stopping with her bow separating into swords for combat. Jaune felt the heat from the blast sear through his aura, flinging him away from the arrow and slamming into his sword, dislodging it from the ground to spin with him along the floor.

Ozpin emerged from the destruction with smoke curling off his hair and clothes and a large scorch mark all the way up and down his entire body, his skin flaring green for a second before his skin lost the damage. Jaune rolled over from the force and landed on his shield, the shield digging into his wound and reopening it. Waves of pain washed over him again as he pushed himself back onto his front. He grabbed the shield and pushed down on it to get himself up off the ground, pulling the shield up with him. But he could barely stand, already feeling his legs want to collapse and the burning in his back relapsing. He grit his teeth and stood up, holding his shield loosely before him with two hands.

Cinder growled, leaping forward like a Beowolf and carving through the air with her twin swords. Jaune readied his shield to block the attack, fully prepared for a force greater than Nora to slam into him. But Ozpin dashed forward, seeming to blur through space with a trail behind him, he snatched up Jaune’s sword to meet Cinder before she could reach Jaune. The sword emitting a green beam as Ozpin slashed with it, blasting Cinder away from them. Jaune readied his shield, prepared to help his professor in any way he could.

“I’m sorry, Mister Arc, but you’re distracting me.”

Jaune turned towards Ozpin in time to catch the flat of his own blade to the chest, the sheer force of the hit sent him flying through the air up and past Cinder towards the elevator. The elevator automatically opened as it detected his approach, the doors swinging open in time for him to thud into the opposing wall and crumple down to the ground, holding his chest as his aura attempted to work overtime to heal all the damage.

He looked up and saw Cinder level her bow at him, able to shoot him without Ozpin getting in the way, but as Ozpin threw Crocea Mors at her back Cinder heard the tell-tale sound of a sword flipping through the air and easily stepped to the side. Jaune’s eyes widened as he realised that the sword was heading for the elevator, the elevator doors beginning to close.

Jaune lay his head flat on the floor of the elevator and heard the deep ‘thunk’ sound as the sword buried itself in the wall above his head, he looked up to see the fight as the elevator doors slid shut. All of the green flames of the hall had gone out, leaving almost the entirety of the room in darkness. The main source of light being Ozpin’s cane stuck beside Amber’s pod, the green shield still being maintained but the green had started to lose its strength and began flickering, sending shadows dancing across the floor. The tube that Pyrrha had pulled from Amber was steadily pumping some kind of florescent fluid onto the ground, a large puddle of glowing sickly green giving a foul light to the fight transpiring.

The rest of the light was stemming from the duel itself. Cinder’s dress was completely lit up, fire dust activating all over while she fought Ozpin. She leapt up with her swords up above her head, the blades becoming coated in flames and lighting up the arena. She landed and brought the swords down upon Ozpin, who, without his weapon, caught the two swords with his hands, arms shuddering at the impact. A green bubble of aura encapsulated his hands to protect him from the blades and the heat.

The last Jaune saw of the fight was a single drop of blood rolling down Ozpin’s outstretched arm as all the green in the room began to flicker.

The elevator doors closed and Jaune heard the fight continue on the other side. It was his fault, if he hadn’t tried to stop her then Ozpin wouldn't have had to expend half his energy and willpower protecting him. But if he hadn’t interfered then the woman that Ozpin was fighting to the death to protect would have died, causing unknown amounts of damage. But only one coherent thought ran through his head.

_‘I killed Ozpin.’_

But Ozpin had saved him over and over again. Taking the explosion, fighting over his body, catching the arrow, knocking him back into the elevator before the fight continued to escalate.

Throwing the sword.

Jaune looked up at the sword buried into the wall. It was just the right height where he could reach it easily and use it to pull himself up. Even in his final act Ozpin had saved his life twice. But Ozpin was still alive.

_‘For now.’_

Jaune reached up and grasped the familiar hilt with both hands, gritting his teeth against the pain from straining his back and his arms. He tried to pull himself up, but his arms wobbled as he put his weight on them, sending him sprawling down to the ground. The sounds of the clash outside were reaching a frantic pace, speeding up as both combatants pushed themselves to their breaking point to win. Jaune took a deep breath, trying to let the pain dissipate slightly as aura began to flow through his arms, giving them their signature white glow.

He gripped the sword with both hands again, pulling down with all his strength. His sword twitched in the wall as all his weight rested upon it, but it did not fail. Jaune managed to get his unsteady legs beneath him long enough to fall against the wall in pain and relief. He maintained his grip on the hilt with one hand while the other reached over to push one of the elevator buttons.

_‘Which level do I go to?’_

The ground floor was where he was needed most, where he would be able to find Pyrrha and Ren and Nora, where medical attention would be and all the safety he needed. But another button caught his eye.

The top floor.

Ozpin’s office.

 _‘Ozpin did say that the tower mustn’t fall,’_ Jaune thought to himself, morbidly pleased with his joke.

The radio built into the elevator crackled as something shook the building from outside, beginning to play music to all of its one occupants. The song was obviously chosen by Port, preceded by a lengthy tale of how the song was a grand representation of a certain attractive young man’s adventures.

_‘As if the ride down didn’t suck enough.’_

But despite himself, Jaune allowed a small smile onto his features as the bombastic storytelling blocked out all the noise from outside the elevator’s small area, distracting him from the pain in his back and chest. As the elevator began to near the top of its trip, Jaune gripped the hilt of Crocea Mors with both hands and yanked as hard as he could, dislodging it slightly from its embedding in the metal wall. He pulled harder, letting his aura flow from his back to his arms for the instant needed to remove the blade from its snug position. But the instant was long enough for the pain to return to his back, requiring Jaune to lean on the wall of the elevator as the doors silently slid open, the music automatically cutting off. There was a faint ‘ding’ noise that disappeared into the empty office, large windows revealing the state of the battlefield.

Jaune limped over to the window overlooking Beacon. The cafeteria had a giant smoking hole in the ceiling, and there was a massive hole in the wall of the dormitories. The White Fang appeared to be retreating out in their Bullheads, all piling in and taking off to escape over Forever Fall. The Atlesian Battleship that had given so much trouble for the defenders had fallen from the sky somehow, leaving a large smoking crater in the outer parts of Vale, fires spreading all across the city.

But the Dragon was still circling the pinnacle of Beacon, dripping more and more Grimm into the school. Jaune could barely make out a few colourful defenders holding up the exit to Vale, Bullheads ferrying everyone out to safety. It appeared as though three of the defenders were running in the direction of Beacon, two red and one white. But that was probably just wishful thinking.

The entire building began to shake and Jaune could hear the sound of metal rending down far below. And he was fairly sure that Ozpin would just wait for the elevator. He stepped back from the window, clutching his family weapons close to his chest, he walked over to stand before the elevator but his aura finally began to give out after pouring all of its energy into keeping him up, Jaune stumbled over and leaned on Ozpin’s transparent desk, holding Crocea Mors limply by his side. Only adrenaline was left to him.

The grey doors tore open and Cinder flew out, glowing with power and a smile on her face. The smile faltered when she saw Jaune waiting for her, casually leaning on the headmaster’s desk. She glared at him, her eyes glowing and flames enveloping them. He would dare stand against her. When she had defeated one of the greatest hunters in Remnant. Jaune heard the dragon screech in the background, tightening and loosening his knuckles on his weapons.

Cinder’s smile returned full force and she stepped forward sultrily, tilting her head slightly to the side. “I just defeated Ozpin, the greatest and most powerful huntsman in all of Vale. What hope do you have to defeat me?”

Jaune chuckled to himself at her assumption, drawing forth her anger again. “I don’t have to beat you. I just have to waste your time.”

As if on cue, a Bullhead flew past the window heading towards the dragon. A horde of Griffons flew out from the dragon to feast on its occupants, but the two doors opened and a host of fire and bullets spewed forth as Port and Oobleck leaned out the sides of the vehicle to disperse the oncoming cloud of Grimm. As the cloud of Grimm proved too dense, they began to envelop the ship when large purple projectiles flew out of the vehicle in every single direction, eviscerating all the Grimm surrounding it while the two professors continued to shoot around them.

The boisterous laughter of Port managed to reach Jaune, even over the grand distance and as they observed, Cinder in shock and Jaune in awe, two men leapt out the sides of the Bullhead. One of them Jaune recognised as General Ironwood, but it seemed as though he was wearing shining armour on half of his body, the other was a lithe, tall man with a tattered, red cape billowing behind him in the wind. As they fell, a purple field appeared beneath them and flung them forward and onto the dragon. Ironwood slammed into the dragon’s head, firing explosive rounds from his hand-cannon and Qrow leapt into action, scythe slicing along the dragon’s wings, slowly wearing down the protective bone and hardened scales to try to clip its wings.

Looks like Pyrrha had succeeded. The cavalry was here.

But not for him.

Jaune rolled to the side as Cinder let out a scream of pure rage and sent a column of fire in his direction, completely cooking Ozpin’s desk. Jaune brought up his shield to block the second fireball that she tossed at him. He ran forward through the fire, ignoring the heat, and slashed at her with Crocea Mors. His heart stopped when she caught the blade with her bare hand and slapped him away with her other arm.

Jaune skidded back without his sword and could only watch as Cinder’s face was overcome with anger and she took out her wrath on his sword. Melting the heirloom into a puddle of molten metal in the middle of the room. As the last of the metal dripped from her fingers, Cinder’s face snapped back to him, eyes glowing with fury. Jaune could only gulp as she let loose a feral scream of rage, a shockwave of fire erupting from her and flowing outwards.

Jaune caught the brunt of it on his shield, his legs being slightly scorched through their worn jeans. The rest of the room suffered far worse. The already battered and abused elevator doors were awash with flames as the fire was caught inside the elevator with no escape, scorching the metal. Ozpin’s chair followed his desk as it too went up in smoke. And the large open windows revealing all of Vale to them shattered, the glass breaking from the initial shockwave and carried out by the fire. For a second, the entire top floor of the building had become a lighthouse, flames spilling out of almost every window and lighting up the night sky, with only Jaune in its way.

Once Cinder calmed down from her sheer rage, she leapt at Jaune, striking down with her flaming fists, intent with causing as much pain as she could to him before his death. Jaune followed Pyrrha’s training and angled his shield to the side so avoid the brunt of the attack, but even so, it felt like he was fighting that Ursa Major in Forever Fall all over again, but this time the Ursa was stronger, faster, smarter, angrier and could control fire. His defences buckled immediately under her assault, legs collapsing beneath him as her strike drove him down onto his knees and knocking his shield from his grasp.

Jaune scrambled for his shield, trying to grab it up before he was attacked again, but Cinder stepped over to it and with a smug smile on her face she kicked it off the edge of the tower, both of them watching as it spun and flipped through the air towards the ground and out of sight. Cinder smiled at him, stepping up to him and placing her right hand against his cheek. Jaune tried to push himself out of her grasp, but he was too weak and she was too strong. Her face turned cruel and her eyes glowed as her hand began to glow and heat up.

Jaune cried out in pain as the hand seared itself into his flesh, his aura and adrenaline both long overspent. He could feel his skin sear and sizzle in contact with the heat, his screams only serving to make Cinder continue pouring the flames into his face. A bright red hand print being branded into his left cheek, some of it blackening from the heat.

_‘I’m going to die.’_

The new maiden stepped back from Jaune, her obsidian bow materialising in her hands as she turned about to face him.

_‘Sorry mom and dad, I destroyed Crocea Mors. I shouldn’t have left for Beacon.’_

Cinder seemed to take in a deep breath, relishing in the vengeance she wanted ever since he stepped foot in front of that arrow. Jaune blinked as he heard a faint noise, it felt familiar.

_‘Désolé pour mes sœurs, I should have spent more time with you and less daydreaming about becoming a hero.’_

An arrow formed in Cinders hand and her eyes gloated over his defeated form on the ground.

_‘Sorry Ren, Nora, Weiss, Blake and Yang. I won’t be there for any of you. Not that you’d ever need me.’_

Cinder raised her bow hand and carefully nocked the arrow to the string.

_‘Sorry Ruby, for not being a better friend. For never being there like I promised.’_

There was a loud roar and Cinder’s attention was diverted from him and out the open window frames.

_‘Sorry Pyrrha, I failed you when you needed me. I’m sorry for being so dense, I only realised in the elevator ride up, guess I really am oblivious.’_

“What!” Cinder shouted, withdrawing Jaune from his quiet introspection.

He followed her gaze out the window to where the dragon was tumbling towards the ground, the two huntsmen who had ridden it leaping back to the relative safety of the Bullhead as all within unloaded every single weapon they had into its damaged wing, shooting it out of the sky. The gigantic Grimm fell from the cloudy night and crashed into Forever Fall, sending a massive wave of dirt and trees splashing up into the sky, the Bullhead following it down to finish the job.

Jaune looked Cinder directly in the eyes, lifting up his chin to stare her down defiantly.

“You lose.”

Cinder’s face warped in pure rage and she drew and fired her bow in one smooth motion, the arrow arcing through the air, making a whistling noise as it split through the air towards him. But there was a noise that wasn’t the arrow flying towards him. That wasn’t the distant combat of the dragon amongst the trees. That sounded like glyphs.

Jaune looked over to his left out the window as Ruby leapt over the edge of the building, just barely landing on the top floor. She took only a second to observe everything that was happening, meeting Jaune’s eyes as her silver eyes widened in fear and shock. Jaune could see her eyes begin to leak tears, tears that were glowing silver. He looked Cinder in the eye as the arrow hit him in the chest, the pain searing through his chest and blooming throughout his entire body.

The burns over the left half of his face began to heat up again, and he could see glowing orange gleaming out of the wound. It felt like someone was burning him up from the inside and Jaune gasped for breath as his lungs filled with flames and smoke, choking out his breath. His bones were turning to molten lead, burning his entire body and easily sapping his willpower.

The arrow wound in his back and the more recent one in his chest began to glow, seeping a warm orange light into the world. But to Jaune it felt like the wounds were openings for all the heat in the world to be absorbed into, his entire body burning up.

“Jaune!!” Ruby yelled, watching her friend die.

Jaune turned to her, trying to get out any words, but none could come. His mouth was burning dry and his throat was searing in pain. As he opened his mouth he could feel and see the glowing emerging from it, his eyes also beginning to pour light out.

Cinder snapped over to look at Ruby in surprise as Ruby stared at Jaune while his body began to dissolve. Jaune gave Ruby a sad smile, one that could never convey all that he wanted. Ruby began to cry. Jaune felt his body begin to part itself from the heat.

Everything went white.

**Author's Note:**

> If Jaune had completed his job like people complain that he didn't do, then he probably would have died.  
> Yes this alternate universe is slightly better than the one in canon (depending on if you like Jaune or not) in terms of the CCT still being up and war being utterly avoided.
> 
> P.S. Haven't done any French in years, had to Google Translate it. Please tell me if it is shit.
> 
> Also: If you would like to continue from this point in your own diverging story, feel free. Just toss me a bone and mention my story or something.  
> Things:  
> Pyrrha can use Jaune's shield to melt down and add to her stuff (Vol 4 Ch1)  
> Pyrrha can spend her nights thinking over how she could have done better and tries to make herself feel better by still training Jaune (Vol 4 Ch 2)  
> CCT is up  
> Dragon is dead  
> Beacon is savable  
> MOST IMPORTANTLY: Jaune is dead, Pyrrha is not


End file.
